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<title>For His Family by Skyborne (LordImperium)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26793010">For His Family</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordImperium/pseuds/Skyborne'>Skyborne (LordImperium)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Nightmares, Trauma, character introspection</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:41:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26793010</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordImperium/pseuds/Skyborne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything Eärendil does is for his family.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eärendil &amp; Elrond Peredhel &amp; Elros Tar-Minyatur, Eärendil/Elwing (Tolkien)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>For His Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Eärendil smiled softly as he placed the blanket over Elrond and Elros, the twins having fallen asleep as he read them a bedtime story. His sons look peaceful and happy in their slumber, curled up with each other. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Moments like these were all too rare, and Eärendil knew he had no one but himself to blame. With how often he was out on his voyages, he rarely had time to be with his sons like this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t help but wish things were different, that he could spare the time to be with his family. The day his sons were born was the happiest day of Eärendil’s life. Though Eärendil knew that every parent is biased, he was and still is absolutely sure that his beautiful boys are the most perfect children ever born. Elwing, looking tired but radiant after giving birth, had agreed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But even the joy Eärendil had felt as he stared at Elwing cuddling their sons close that day had been shadowed. He had been afraid of whether he would be a good father. He was afraid he would never be able to give his sons all that they deserve. Most of all, Eärendil was afraid that his sons will never be safe. And in the years since, none of those fears had faded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eärendil didn’t remember much of Gondolin. He was only seven years old when it fell, after all. But he remembered enough, and he knew that Sirion, for all that he loved its people, was but a mere shadow of the splendour and might of the lost Elven kingdoms. His sons, for all that they were princes of both the Noldor and Iathrim, would not know that, would grow up in what was nothing more than a glorified refugee camp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eärendil also remembered that Gondolin was supposed to be safe. It had held out the longest of Beleriand’s kingdoms, shielded by secrecy and the favour of Ulmo himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Gondolin had still fallen in the end, and Eärendil is terrified that Sirion will as well. The Havens are so very weak and small. Even an attack by the diminished forces of the Feanorians would ruin them even if they triumphed, never mind the vast armies that Morgoth can bring to bear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fear of losing his people, of losing his family haunts Eärendil. More than once, he has woken up at night in a cold sweat, from nightmares of watching Elwing die, murdered by the Feanorians like her brothers. Worse, he dreams of Elrond and Elros dying, abandoned in the woods by the Feanorians like their uncles, of them being burned to death by dragons, or being slaughtered by Orcs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One thing was consistent, in all those dreams. His wife and his children scream for Eärendil to save them, and he can do nothing but watch helplessly. And Eärendil was painfully aware that this is the truth, that if the Feanorians or Morgoth came, he would not be able to save his family.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had not spoken of these dreams to Elwing. How could he? She too was afraid, and haunted by nightmares of her own. Beyond that, she had responsibilities, as Queen of the Sindar, leader of the Havens. And in his absence, it was she who looked after their sons. Eärendil could not bear to place another burden upon his already weary wife. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the fear plagued him all the same. It haunted his every step and tainted his every moment, and he was unable to look at his family without being haunted by the knowledge of what could happen to them if nothing changed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was this fear that drives Eärendil to voyage across the seas, searching for a route to Valinor. The fear for his people, for his family, for what might happen to them if Morgoth was not stopped. </span>
</p>
<p><span>Eärendil reached out to stroke Elrond and Elros’s hair, once more making himself the silent vow that</span> <span>his nightmares would not come to pass. He would not allow them to. </span><span>He had to convince the Valar to help them, somehow. All that matters is making a safe world for his family, a world where Elwing can rebuild her lost kingdom, where Elrond and Elros can be happy and safe. </span></p>
<p>
  <span>Eärendil knew that, in the end, he would most likely die as all the sailors that his grandfather had sent out had died, but that only mattered if he failed. If he succeeded...Elwing would be able to rebuild her lost kingdom, Elrond and Elros would grow up happy and safe, as princes beloved by all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If the price for that was Eärendil’s life...that was a price he was willing to pay.</span>
</p>
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